We'll Find Two Destinations
by DrunkOnJerichohol
Summary: On that remarkable day nearly three years prior, Chris said "'til death do us part." They were five simple words, meant to stand the test of time and hold true until he or his wife left the earth, but his vows collapsed under the weight of life's plentiful temptations. Stephanie is left only two choices to grapple with - - win Chris back, or move on without him for good. (two-shot)
1. Sign of a Pure Heart

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Any and all original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Tissue had become her best friend, because it worked hand-in-hand with the river of tears she shed on a daily basis. Her mind was in mourning and her heart on hold, because the missing link — her husband, and soon to be ex — had decided the grass was a much more brilliant shade of green on the other side. Coming to terms with Chris's abrupt dismissal of their marriage proved even more difficult than finding out who he was currently dating, which was perhaps why she was still struggling to catch her balance and stand tall once more. The pain swept her up in its unwavering gusts and carried her all the way to San Diego, California, which was the city the Bella Twins called home.

Stephanie hadn't witnessed a single ounce of chemistry between Chris and either of the Bellas, not ever, aside from the typical friendship he shared with most everyone backstage. Sure, he had enjoyed trips with the guys, in which the Bellas had been present and along for the ride, but she couldn't have ever foreseen that he would go so far as to leave her in the dust so he could be with one of them. Whether he was enjoying the company of Nikki or Brie remained to be seen, as she hadn't ever been skilled at telling them apart, and had no clue which of the pair she had seen him holding hands with a couple weeks prior. It wasn't just any hand, but his left one — the same one that should have been sporting the wedding ring she presented him with three years earlier.

The ring was no more.

Its absence didn't sting nearly as severely as Chris not having the decency to conjure up a convincing lie about the ring's actual whereabouts. He could have told her it fell down the sink drain, came off during a match in the ring, or slipped off his finger during a Fozzy gig, but, no, he settled on telling her he didn't want to wear it out of respect for his new girlfriend. He saw fit to be considerate of a woman he barely knew, while dismissing Stephanie as if his marriage to her was only a bad habit he had been struggling for years to shake. No indication of where she had gone wrong was given, so Stephanie found herself wallowing inside a rental SUV, parked outside the house of one of the women guilty of having a helping hand in viciously tearing her life to shreds, whether the intent was there or not.

She could go up and ring the doorbell, or remain in the driver's seat and watch from afar, but, either way, a decision would need to be made soon. Stephanie reached across the passenger seat and retrieved a folded piece of paper that awaited her, containing the heartfelt letter she had written in hopes of getting Chris back. If she could make him understand what a special space she still had reserved in her heart for him, there was a chance he might return home with her, and they could begin repairing the broken pieces of their hearts. Then again, Stephanie doubted Chris's heart was actually broken, not the same way hers was.

No, he seemed pretty pleased with himself to have found someone else he declared his better half, and it had, in fact, been eavesdropping that clued Stephanie in to that sad fact. She shouldn't have been snooping around Chris's locker room trying to pick up on any juicy tidbits floating around, but it had only been a couple weeks after he up and left her, and the sole way she could get straight information from his mouth was if she was listening in on his private conversations. He spoke openly to his friends, but certainly not to her anymore, and Stephanie was left with a multitude of questions to sort through in a desperate attempt to figure out why he no longer wanted her. They had always been so good together, and he threw it away for the faux love of a Bella twin.

With a trembling hand and glossy eyes, Stephanie clutched the letter to her chest, unconsciously holding it close to her heart, and alighted from the vehicle. With each scenario she had gone through in her head for how her efforts might pan out, that split second was the first time she questioned how things might go if Nikki or Brie answered the door instead of Chris. It was widely known, thanks to all the talks Chris had with the boys backstage concerning his relationship, that he spent every weekend with his new girlfriend, so Stephanie was confident he was actually inside the house. Whether or not he would answer or be receptive to coming to the door once she made her presence known was an entirely different story altogether, and one she wasn't fully prepared to face.

There she stood, vulnerable and broken, with the sun beaming down on her from the clear West Coast sky, as she struggled with whether or not she wanted to walk up to the door. Regardless of what took place, the Bellas were under contract, and she was still their boss, so she didn't want to make herself appear too vulnerable to people she was supposed to be expressing an air of confidence and authority in front of. Even as she remained lost in thought, Stephanie was aware enough to put it all together in her head and realize there was no way she could hand-deliver a letter to Chris at their front door without coming off like a pathetic puppy dog who had lost their way and needed to be led home. The fear was almost enough to chase her away altogether, but the sound of a faint mingling of voices turned her attention to the front of the home.

She gasped when Chris stepped out onto the front porch, laughing at whatever mind-numbing conversation he was sure to be sharing with his latest female companion. Stephanie's first instinct was to duck, but she wasn't able to act on it in time and, instead, studied the scene through the windows of the car. She was standing on the opposite side of the vehicle from the objects of her attention, so it acted as somewhat of a shield while she spied on Chris and his new flavor of the day. As time would eventually tell, that's all Brie or Nikki would ever be, and Stephanie was aware of that, even if Chris and his new ladylove weren't.

Her eyes focused in on their clasped hands, and it was enough to make her want to vomit. Another woman's hand resting where it didn't belong, namely in the clutches of a man who vowed to love her until the day one or both of them died, was enough to throw Stephanie into a complete frenzy. She remained motionless, watching through the glass, and found herself wondering why her vision was growing so blurry, until she realized she was squinting through a wall of unshed tears. Stephanie swallowed the knot in her throat and averted her eyes, using her right hand to play with the wedding finger on her left hand until she heard their vehicle start up.

She turned her back and pressed herself up against the driver-side door, as every ounce of steely resolve to win her husband back drained from her body. The sputter of an engine coming to life invaded her thoughts, and she waited on them to leave so she could get back into her vehicle, drive to the airport, and pretend such a dreadful trip hadn't taken place to begin with. She could tell from the roaring hum of the motor they were backing out of the driveway, but instead of shifting back into drive and carrying on, she heard the opening and shutting of the car door. The noise was too close for comfort and, figuring one of them had forgotten something and was heading back inside the house, Stephanie whirled around in time to find Chris jogging across the street towards her vehicle.

He couldn't possibly have recognized the rental, as it was the first time she had driven such a car, so she couldn't come up with a reason he would have to be bearing down on her, but he crept closer with each passing second. She didn't want to be caught red-handed, but, yet, she didn't care enough about the potential embarrassment she might suffer if she stayed, because it would be worth it to see his face and hear his voice. Chris was everything to her, all-encompassing, and she couldn't allow that feeling to pass without raising her fists and putting up a damn good fight to hold onto what they shared. It was thanks to that resolve she wasn't a deer in headlights when he rounded the vehicle, nor was she one when he came to a stop directly in front of her.

She was simply a woman taking a chance on a man who was worth it — more than worth it.

"Stephanie, what are you doing out here?" Chris questioned, not at all surprised to see her standing there, and she pondered how he had been able to scope out her presence so easily, though she may have been more obvious than she realized. "I tried to give you the chance to come to your senses and leave on your own, but you're really starting to freak Brie out," he pointed towards the car where Brie was waiting, and Stephanie's eyes narrowed to slits, though she was relieved to finally have a definitive answer as to which of the Bellas she was going to dig her claws into.

Brie Bella was the official culprit.

"How did you know I was out here?" Stephanie wondered.

"I didn't until we backed out and I got a closer look," Chris explained, glancing everywhere except directly into her eager eyes. His words and tone couldn't have been more dismissive than if he tried to do it on purpose, and it tormented Stephanie to her very core to witness. Gone were the days when his eyes lit up simply at the sight of her, and when he was so desperate to wrap his arms around her that he outstretched them as he walked to her. She had lost him to a woman who didn't deserve him, and perhaps that was one of the most difficult aspects to contend with. "Look, as soon as I spotted you, I told Brie, and she doesn't understand why you're hanging around out here. You can't just come stand outside their house to intimidate her because you're jealous."

"I'm not jealous. I just wanted to talk to you, honey," she reached out to cup his cheek, but Chris took a step back, so as not to be within touching range. Stephanie bit down on her bottom lip and turned away to mask her tortured soul, but the damage had already been done. "I don't understand why you don't want me anymore."

"I already told you, it has nothing to do with you. It's just my own thing I've got going on."

"But why Brie?" Stephanie asked, hair fluttering in the light breeze while birds chirped overhead, flitting between various branches. "What does she have that I don't?"

"I love her."

Stephanie chuckled humorlessly and shook her head, turning her gaze heavenward as she studied the gathering cluster of puffy clouds in the otherwise clear blue sky. She could handle Chris wanting to explore new relationships and could even manage to tolerate him getting to know someone else, but hearing him say such sacred words about a woman who shouldn't have meant anything to him was more than she could take. "How the hell can you love her? You guys don't even know each other, Chris! You went on _one_ work-related appearance with her, some autograph signing or whatever it was, and now, all the sudden, you love her?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"Yeah, you do, because you're _my_ husband, and I have a right to know," Stephanie held her left hand up, flashing her ring boldly to remind him just who in the hell he was speaking to. If he was going to fall for another woman, it wasn't going to be without supplying her an explanation she deemed fit. They had been fine up until a month prior, and Stephanie wasn't ready to let go of the man she loved over what appeared to be nothing more than a brief fling. Sure, she preferred him not to see other women, but if it was an act of defiance he needed to shake out of his system before returning home to her, she would allow it just this once.

"I asked for a divorce," Chris reminded, shoving his hands into his pockets and sending a nervous glance in Brie's direction. Stephanie's gaze followed his and her eyes flashed with panic for a split second, as worry rushed in at the thought of Brie getting out of her car to confront her. Stephanie knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, she could take care of business if it came down to physically defending herself, but she didn't want to make the company look bad by getting arrested for making short work of the other woman. No matter what, she was the adult daughter of Vince McMahon and had quite a reputation to uphold. "We're not gonna work out, and I wish you would see that and let me move on."

"You can't just not care about me anymore. You loved me for all the years we were together, so that must count for something. How do you fall out of love that fast?"

"I didn't," Chris admitted. "It was a gradual thing, but you had to have noticed we were fizzling out. Steph, we were like friends living under the same roof, and not even _close_ friends. We stopped talking about anything that actually mattered and weren't even having sex anymore."

"First off, I tried to talk to you, but you were never receptive. Second of all, there's a lot more to a relationship than sex, and we weren't together as often anymore in the end, I'll admit that, but that's not a reason to just leave. What could I have possibly done that was bad enough to make you leave and go running to this skank without warning?" Stephanie shot back. It was tough for her to watch Chris acting so nonchalant over such serious business. Their relationship, their _livelihood_, was hanging in the balance, and he didn't seem to care a single bit. He was more interested in swatting at imaginary flies than engaging in a meaningful conversation with the woman he had chosen to call his wife.

"She's a beautiful girl, and we get along great. There's never a dull moment with her, and that's all I wanted. I needed to feel something, and, sorry, but I wasn't getting that with you anymore."

"That can't be true," she began shaking her head adamantly. "We were so in love, and you don't lose that overnight."

"I told you, I didn't lose it overnight. I lost it over time," Chris repeated, sighing in frustration. He rolled his eyes, thinking Stephanie hadn't seen it, but nothing ever got past her. It hurt to have him regarding her in such a way, especially after all they had been through together. She had gone from being his wife, the most important person in his life, to being a mere annoyance he wanted to make disappear. "We were young when we first started dating...well, not so much me, since I was almost 30, but you were still young, Steph. You thought you knew what true love was, and so did I, but now I'm not so sure that's what we actually had."

"I _know_ it's what we had, because I felt it in my heart," Stephanie's voice wavered as she brought a hand to her chest and placed it passionately over her heart. "I feel it every single day, and if you would come back home, I know we could work this out. I love you, Chris, and I think if you do enough digging and soul-searching, you'll realize you still love me too."

"I'm not in love with you, though, not anymore," he said, and the sharp blade of his cutting words speared her square in the chest. Stephanie nearly stumbled backwards from the force of hearing him voice her biggest fears aloud, and she decided right then and there, she was fine with no longer being around. There was no life left to live and nothing to return to, if it meant she couldn't have the person she loved.

"Oh God, oh no, please...I can't do this," she turned her back on Chris and sank to the ground, kneeling beside her vehicle as she struggled to catch her breath. Brie carelessly honked the horn, urging Chris to hurry back, and if Stephanie hadn't been so beside herself with grief, she just might have stormed the vehicle, yanked Brie out by her stringy hair, and given her a little lesson in the meaning of respect. "I can't do this, I just can't do this..." Stephanie whispered repeatedly as she squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could open them again and find herself anywhere besides where she actually was.

Life would be grand if it were that simple.

"Do you need me to call someone to come pick you up?" Chris leaned over her shrunken body, not bothering to grab her hand, or rub her hair, or engage in any sort of physical touch that would be comforting to her. That wasn't the Chris she had always known, and that was when Stephanie came to terms with what he was telling her. She had finally lost him. There would be no returning to their home as a couple and working things out, because Chris didn't want her anymore, and certainly not in the same way she so desperately craved him. "What do you need, Steph? Should I call someone or can you drive yourself?"

"I can't go on without you," she choked out. "I can't leave here and not have you. Please don't do this to me, don't do this to _us_."

"I'm not doing anything to you or us. I already told you how I felt, and you're the one who made the decision to come down here anyways. This isn't gonna work, and the sooner you realize that, the easier it'll be. I can't be with you anymore."

"Why not?"

Chris groaned exasperatedly and rose to a standing position once more, "I just told you why. Should I call someone for you? This is your last chance before I have to go."

"There's just nothing I can do?" she turned back to him, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

Chris cringed and turned away, conflicted with seeing her in such pain. Even when they weren't together, he still felt for Stephanie, but it wasn't the intense emotion he experienced when they had been in the early stages of their relationship. A transformation had taken place over time, both for them as individuals and as a couple, and of all the things that could be attained in life, the past could never be recaptured. It wasn't something you could preserve inside a sealed bottle and unleash when you were ready, and whether Stephanie was ready to believe it or not, their time was up.

"No, not really," he responded. His words held a finality in them Stephanie couldn't deny, not even in the hopeful state she showed up to Brie and Nikki's house in. She gathered herself enough to stand, and when she realized the letter was still clutched to her chest, she spun around and was relieved to find Chris waiting behind her. She held it out, and he sent her a questioning glance.

"Here, take it," she directed, finding her voice through her anguish, though it sounded nothing like her normal self. "I know you're with Brie and you think you love her, but please take this and read the whole thing. Don't show it to her, and don't leave it anywhere she can find it. Just read it, put it in a safe place, and call to tell me what you think."

"Okay, but this really isn't gonna change any —"

"Please, just read it, Chris."

"Fine, I will," he agreed, tucking the folded square of paper into his back pocket. "I'll talk to you later, I guess."

"You will," she nodded.

Chris left her with a final nod goodbye before he turned around and strolled to the car Brie was waiting in. Though mildly horrified to have been caught, Stephanie was glad Chris had seen her, because if he hadn't made it a point to ask what she needed, she might never have worked up the courage to go to him on her own. She opened her car door and climbed back into the driver's seat just in time to see Brie speeding off with Chris as a willing passenger. Stephanie glared at the car as it went, as if her eyes would shoot laser beams that would pierce through the shiny metal and make mincemeat out of Brie for daring to mess with her husband.

Chris was a person Stephanie wasn't willing to live without, and a four-word phrase played itself on repeat in her mind as she drove back to the airport in preparation to fly home.

_By any means necessary._


	2. Still the One

"You know how you think back on something you did and blush all over again from the embarrassment of it?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah," Linda acknowledged.

"That's how I feel now."

Weeks had come and gone and Chris hadn't made even the slightest effort to contact her. Not about the letter, not about the future and capacity of their relationship, and not about the ultimate plan for their lives. He was as gone as he would ever be, and with the help of Linda and the rest of her family, Stephanie was slowly beginning to heal. She wouldn't be prepared to see other men in a romantic aspect for a long time, but she was finally gaining the confidence to leave her house without feeling like she had to run for cover.

She considered contesting the divorce for weeks, but she hadn't a leg to stand on legally or personally, as there was nothing to fight for. Chris's mind was made up, and the sooner she accepted it, the sooner she would return to some semblance of a normal life. Her heart would hurt and her mind would fall back on old memories, but she would find a way to be whole again. The most important thing she could do was to find herself and dig to the root of who she was as a person and what she needed in order to live a fulfilling life.

Living primarily in Connecticut near her family had been good for her, and she even temporarily moved into her parents' home, simply because it was comforting to have other people around. Her mind didn't wander quite so much when there was someone to talk to, so she was thankful for every bit of their support. Stephanie rubbed absently at the ring finger on her left hand, shivering against the couch as she felt the bare spot on her skin. Linda must have noticed, because the next sensation she felt was her mother's hand on her shoulder.

"You did what you could, sweetie. If Chris didn't appreciate that, then it's his loss."

"I know," Stephanie said.

She stretched her legs on the couch and rested her feet on the armrest, with her head lying in Linda's lap. Linda began stroking her hair, and Stephanie closed her eyes, wanting to escape the sickening feeling creeping up in her stomach. She was okay until she focused in too much on the downfall of her marriage. Minimal conversation about it was fine, but excessive discussion was unbearable. If she allowed her mind to wander too much, she started mulling over what Chris's life with Brie must be like, and she deserved better than to torture herself with such scenarios.

"Are you sure you know?" Linda pressed. "Do you, really?"

"I mean, of course I have the what-if's and wonder if there was something I could have done differently, but sometimes people just fall out of love," Stephanie replied, licking her lips. "I don't know if Chris read the letter I gave him, but I hope he didn't. At the time, I practically wanted to open it and read it out loud to him myself, but now I feel embarrassed I would even write something like that."

"Why's that?"

"I basically begged him to come back to me, and I don't like that it even went that far. I do love him, but I shouldn't be begging anyone to be with me. If he doesn't see the good in me, then I need to move onto someone else who will," Stephanie said. Even with her eyes closed, she felt them tear up, so she swiped a hand over each of them, pleased when none of her tears managed to slip past her eyelids. "I can't imagine finding another man I love as much as I love Chris, but...maybe I don't even need a man for a while."

"I was just going to say that," Linda replied. "You need to focus on yourself, and if there's somebody out there who's meant for you, they'll come along when the time is right. You shouldn't have to exert yourself to find the person you're supposed to be with. It just happens."

"Do you think Chris and I were too young to get married?"

"No," she answered without hesitation. "Actually, maybe a little, but I didn't think so at the time. Your father and I were married at a very young age, so I don't like to be judgmental of that with other people. You were in love with Chris, and he seemed to feel the same way about you, so I had no problem with it. If I had detected any insincerity on his part, that would have been a different story, but I thought he was really good for you. He helped you grow up quicker and be more organized, that sort of thing."

"That sounds more like the stuff a father should do for you than a husband."

"Yeah, well..." Linda trailed off, not quite knowing how to respond to such an assessment.

"It's hard to think about never being with him again, but I know I'll have to get used to it. There's really no other choice."

"You need to put the focus on yourself, and that's easier said than done, but you're giving all of your attention to him, when it needs to go on you."

"I'm not giving him _all_ of my attention," Stephanie responded, crossing her arms and frowning. "I've grown up a lot since he told me he didn't want to be together anymore, and I think I'm doing a damn good job. Nobody knows what I'm going through, so I shouldn't be judged."

Linda ran a hand swiftly across her forehead, brushing stray hair strands away. "I'm not judging you, sweetheart. I just see all of this good in you, and I want you to see it in yourself. You're smart, business-savvy, beautiful, successful, and I know you'll find someone who appreciates that someday, but I want _you_ to fully appreciate it first."

"I want that, too," she whispered.

"Tell you what," Linda began, "why don't I go put on a pot of coffee? You wait here, and I'll be back with your drink and a snack. We can watch a movie, or talk some more. Whatever you want to do is fine with me."

"That sounds good," Stephanie said.

She shifted to a sitting position to allow Linda to rise, and the comfortable dip in the couch evaporated as she stood and slipped away into the next room. Stephanie resumed her previous posture and stared up at the ceiling, wondering if her life would ever return to the type of normalcy she used to know and love. Her cell phone rang out, and she thought to ignore it, but the more the sound interrupted the sweet silence of the room, the more she wanted to take the call long enough to tell whoever it was to let her relax. All she needed was a day to herself, and then she would gladly take calls from anyone who actually wanted to speak with her.

She reached blindly towards the table until her hands bumped into her phone, and she brought it to her ear without checking the caller ID. Had she done so, she likely wouldn't have bothered accepting the call to begin with, but when his voice came over the line, it was too late.

"Chris?"

"Yeah, it's me," he said, and he sounded different than she last remembered.

Distant?

Reflective?

Hurt?

"I'm not fighting you anymore with the divorce. If that's what you want, you can have it," Stephanie said. "We're two different people now, and maybe we really did grow apart before I had the chance to notice. I don't need to have that rubbed in my face time and again. I get that we're on two different paths, and I'm finally beginning to come to terms with that."

There was some shuffling on his end of the line, followed by a couple of coughs, before he returned. His tone was restless and pained, and she thought she overheard some light sniffling, but it was probably all part of her imagination. Maybe a piece of her just wanted him to be suffering even a fraction as much as she was. "What if I don't think we're on two different paths anymore?"

There was an abrupt pause as Stephanie's heart hammered in her chest. Before she had a chance to think her response all the way through, it was pouring out of her mouth. She sat up on the couch, replying, "I'm hanging up. How dare you leave me like this and then have the nerve to call me out of nowhere and think I should be jumping for joy just because you're having doubts about your decision. Maybe you should have tried to work things out with me first instead of pulling the plug on our marriage for some girl you barely knew."

"I don't barely know her."

She scoffed, bringing a hand to her chest. "Is that honestly the only thing you took away from what I just said? Unbelievable."

"No, I heard the rest of it. I just wanted to point out that it wasn't like I picked some chick at random and went along with her. I put a lot of thought into my decision."

"Good for you. I'm hanging up now," Stephanie said, pushing the button to end the call and nodding in satisfaction when she heard the beep to confirm he was gone.

Had someone prepared her for his call, she might have reacted more kindly, but receiving a call from Chris out of the blue had pushed her buttons in a way she hadn't anticipated. Stephanie would have thought she would be ecstatic to hear from him, but, instead, hearing his voice had only served to set her off. For him to call, after all the time that had lapsed since she went to visit him, and expect that she would be receptive to his words was unfathomable. She still loved him, but, perhaps for the first time in her life, Stephanie was learning to love herself more than she loved anyone else. It was oddly gratifying.

She was about to slip off of the couch and scurry into the next room to tell Linda about the encounter when her phone rang again. This time, she had smartened up enough to check the caller display, and, sure enough, it was Chris. It could have been curiosity, or maybe somewhere deep down she genuinely wanted to hear his voice, but she answered. It was against her better judgment, but she couldn't think of anything worse than not answering and being left wondering what it was he would have said.

"Chris, I don't know what you're trying to do, but I don't think I like it," Stephanie started.

"I'm trying to say that I fucked up," he admitted.

"Where is this coming from?"

"The heart."

"I came to see you like six weeks ago and gave you a letter," she reminded. "Did you not think to call me back that same week if you were having a change of heart and thought we might be able to work this stuff out? Why would you wait until the last minute to call me? You think I should drop everything to be with you just because _you_ want it? What about when _I_ wanted it?" she asked, firing her questions off in rapid succession.

"I...the letter meant a lot to me."

"Yeah, I can tell," she added sarcastically.

"I would have called you about it back then, but I didn't feel the way I do now," Chris admitted. He paused, and this time she definitely heard a sniffle. "I've read that letter every day since you gave it to me. I pull it out before bed, read it, and then put it back in a safe place for the next night. The more I read through it, the more I realize what I left behind with you, and I'm not saying we should be together right away, but maybe we can be friends first."

"And then what?"

"And then get back to what we had before."

"We'll never get back exactly what we had before," she said. "Back then, I trusted you in a way that I could never trust you now. I don't even look at you the same way anymore, and it's not about the fact that you felt like you were falling out of love with me. If you would have come and told me that yourself, we could have tried to work on it, but the fact that you would just leave..." she trailed off, hands trembling as all the anger she'd been holding onto boiled up inside. "The fact that you would leave without any warning shows your lack of respect for me, and you'll never be the same guy I knew."

"I'm not asking for you to come back to me with open arms," Chris replied. "I don't want a miracle. I just want a little bit of hope that things might be better between us later."

"You're divorcing me, so I imagine we won't be seeing a whole lot of each other anyway."

"I stopped the proceedings."

"You what?"

"I withdrew the divorce petition."

"I don't know what you did that for," she mumbled.

"Steph, are you not going to give me _any_ leeway in this?" he asked, his voice rising at the end of the sentence. "I know I was wrong, but you're making it worse."

"I didn't make any of this worse. _You_ made it worse when you ran off with someone else without even giving me a chance to fix what was wrong. Don't you dare try to blame me for your pain. What about my pain?"

"I don't want you to be hurt," Chris said. "You deserve to be happy, and I want that for you more than anything, even if it means we can't talk anymore."

"What are we doing here?" she exclaimed. "I mean, honestly, what's going on? You filed for divorce and went to live with another woman, you got rid of your wedding ring and stopped talking to me at all, and now, you call me out of the blue and think everything is all sunshine and roses? The fact that you think it should all be so simple after what you did is unbelievable."

"I only want a chance to make things up to you. Brie is out of the picture now."

"What happened? Did she find another guy who made her happy and kick you out?" she asked. "She didn't want you anymore so you think you can come crawling back to me and I should accept your sorry ass excuses because I don't have any better options?" she finished, surprising her own self with the acidity of her words. It felt good to release the tension that had built up over several months time, dating before she even wrote Chris the letter.

"She didn't leave me. I left her."

"Okay, so what do you expect me to do?"

"Be my friend?"

"Like you were to me?"

"I can't change the past," he said, his voice softening. "I wish to God I could, but I don't know how to roll back time. If I could take every bit of your hurt and feel it myself, I would do that, because I deserve it. You didn't do anything wrong, and I put all this on you, and I'll regret it until the day I die, but I don't know how else to start fixing this except to say that I'm sorry."

"You could also acknowledge that there's nothing to be fixed. We can try to repair our relationship, but nothing will ever be fixed."

"I know, and that's my fault."

Stephanie pressed her eyes shut and sighed. As much as she didn't want to give into him, the sincerity in his voice was plain as day, and the least she could do was give him a chance. It was more than he had done for her, but just because he had done her wrong didn't mean she had to be worse. She could be the sole savior of their relationship, be it a friendship or otherwise. "I'd be willing to meet somewhere so we can talk, but I'm not making any promises. Where are you right now?"

"Connecticut."

"Where in Connecticut?" she asked. If he showed up outside her parents' house, she was going to lose her mind. Then she remembered he hadn't even known she was staying with her parents, and if he was going to show up anywhere, it would be her house.

"At a hotel, but I'm in Greenwich."

"How long have you been here?"

"A week."

"You've been staying in a hotel for an entire week?" Stephanie's brow wrinkled.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because that's how long it took me to work up the nerve to actually call you. I kept wanting to come and see you, but I knew you deserved a heads-up in a phone call first, so now I'm calling," Chris rushed out. It was oddly sweet to think he had been putting in an effort to call her and that his decision hadn't been a split-second one. The past would always be, but there was a chance to create a better future, and if Chris was willing to try, she couldn't fault him for that.

"It's nice to know you cared enough that it took you so long to find the courage to call. Let's me know you still care, even if it's only a little bit."

"I care a lot more than I've shown you," Chris admitted, adding on quickly, "but I want to be better."

"There's always room for improvement, I suppose," Stephanie said.

It was odd being married to someone who she was going to have to work at building a relationship with all over again, from top to bottom. They had to lay the foundation, put in the labor, and in the end, if all was successful, they could recapture some of what they used to have. She never wanted to lose sight of herself the way she had when Chris first left, but she couldn't divorce him with no regrets until she at least tried to piece their relationship back together. The only failure they could come across was if they hadn't tried at all, and Stephanie didn't want to live the rest of her life with regrets, wondering what could have been.

"So, about this friendship thing, how does it work?" Stephanie wondered. She could almost hear the sunbeam in Chris's voice at her willingness to accept him back into her life.

"It can start with dinner tonight."

"That will work, I suppose. Text me the details and I'll be there," she said. Linda reentered the room with two filled coffee cups, one in each hand, and raised an eyebrow when she noticed Stephanie on the phone. Sensing the need to wrap up the conversation, she added, "I guess a friendship is how all of the greatest relationships begin."

Chris's response came without hesitation. "Indeed, they do."


End file.
